Title: Tell Tale
Author: Jeffrey Archer
Publisher: Pan Macmillan India
Jeffrey Archer returns to the story format with this book of
whimsical, sometimes ironic pieces nearly a decade-and-a-half after his last
volume of short stories was published in 2010. This compilation of 13
wonderfully crafted short stories is reminiscent of stories by O. Henry. A few
of the stories in this collection, ‘Tell Tale,’ hinges on the idea that nothing
is as it seems. True to Archer’s theme, someone gets an unexpected comeuppance
in most of the tales. Slightly old-fashioned, all the stories speak of a time
that has long since passed and yet come alive for a second time to tantalize
the readers. Every one of the stories are marked by simplicity and
unpretentiousness — Archer’s hallmark, when it comes to spinning short stories.
The fully fleshed characters and absorbing plots would definitely remain on
one’s mind long after the book has been put aside.
‘Tell Tale’ begins with “Who Killed the Mayor,” the story of
a young Neapolitan detective who has been assigned to a small town in Campania
to investigate the murder of the mayor whose presence had been poisoning the
idyllic village. The story was immensely enjoyable even though the ending was
quite predictable. In ‘A Gentleman and a Scholar,’ a retiring professor — one
of the first women to teach at Yale — gives her final lecture on Shakespeare. She
becomes a study in grace as she recalls her first day at the university and the
challenges she was thrown. ‘The Car Park Attendant’ is yet another of his
stories inspired from real life incidents. The ingenious way a man makes his
money is worth reading again and again. In “The Road to Damascus,” Archer
examines the spiritual and the ironic. While in “The Holiday of a Lifetime” he
allows his readers to satisfy their individual desires in the form of three
different and equally interesting endings.
Archer, as we all will agree, is a master story teller when
it comes to short stories, be it fiction or non-fiction, thanks to his vast
experience as a globe trotter. His use of dialogues is seamless and his
characters have the capacity to tear the fabric of improbable and come alive.
However, having read all his short stories till date, I daresay this latest
collection seems somewhat of a rehashing. But the good news is, none of the
stories bore.
Jeffrey Archer, whose novels and short stories include Kane
and Abel, A Prisoner of Birth and Cat O' Nine Tales, has topped the bestseller
lists around the world, with sales of over 275 million copies.
He is the only author ever to have been a number one
bestseller in fiction (nineteen times), short stories (four times) and
non-fiction (The Prison Diaries).
The author is married to Dame Mary Archer, and they have two
sons, William and James, two grandsons and a granddaughter, and divide their
time between homes in London, Cambridge and Mallorca.
I'd like to thank the publisher for letting me review the book. I do hope you end up liking the book when you read it. Thank you so much for stopping by, and happy reading!
* I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
** Picture courtesy: Amazon.in
